real life law enforcement

[threeplusfire]

I have to admit I watch Cops. It comes on at 4am, and it's this weird thing. It's stranger than watching talk shows or dating shows. It's the creepiest of reality television, because I think we are all always wondering when we are going to see someone we know on there.

There was an episode on tonight that was all incidents where shots were fired. It was exceptionally scary. The most disturbing by far was the guy with the knife who had run from the police and ended up on the freeway outside of Boston on foot. He's walking, waving the knife, and a dozen cops are on foot following him. They kept telling him to just drop the knife, and he kept yelling. He wound up pinned to the guard rail by a cruiser, took a swing at an officer, and the car's driver pegged him in the stomach. The camera did a close up shot of the bullet wound, and it was strange looking. The whole thing was so senseless. That guy could have stopped, maybe gotten whacked with a nightstick. But instead, he gets a bullet and a guy has to shoot him.

There are a lot of scary police officers, and I've seen some real jerks. But there are a lot of really good police officers too, and I've seen them. What's strange and sad to me is that so much of the madness I've seen on this show could be avoided if people were not so damned stupid.

Comments

[todfox.livejournal.com]

I would have a lot less trouble with cops if drug laws were different. I recognize they serve a necessary function and most of them just want to keep people safe -- it is just too bad they have to keep people safe from themselves, too.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I think many people confuse their dislike of certain laws with a disllike for the people enforcing the laws. Hate the law, love the cop I say and thereby corrupt an annoying phrase I hear too often. ;)